People’s Tribunal against WB, IMF, ADB announced in Bangladesh

NewAge, November 4, 2007. Dhaka, Bangladesh

Academics, economists, politicians and activists jointly announced the formation of a people’s tribunal against the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank on Sunday.

The announcement was made at a press briefing at the National Press Club in Dhaka, a few hours before the arrival of the World Bank president, Robert Zoellick.The tribunal’s national preparatory committee was convened after former justice, Golam Rabbani, announced its formation.

Anu Muhammad, professor of economics at Jahangirnagar University, briefly outlined the plan of action while presenting the concept note. He said in the next six months there will be investigations into the effects that the lending agencies have had on various sectors including jute, water, power and energy, health, education and agriculture.

These investigations will then be used to build up cases against the agencies at the tribunal which will be headed by former justices. He said the investigative process would naturally be as inclusive as possible and the tribunal would try to involve people from the entire cross-section of society.

The people’s committee would include researchers, economists, educationists, politicians and members of various professional bodies.

‘The policy prescriptions of the lending agencies have destroyed Bangladesh’s potential for development and are merely another form of colonisation. The People’s Tribunal will try to find the ways and means of breaking the shackles that the lending agencies have wrapped around our country,’ said Anu.

MM Akash, professor of economics at Dhaka University, said, ‘Through the work of the tribunal and the tribunal itself, we want to tell the lending agencies, “this far and no further”. It is time we turned around and resisted them.’

Golam Rabbani, who presided over the briefing, said, ‘This is a fight against capitalist imperialism that the agencies advance on behalf of their masters.’

M Anisur Rahman, a former pro vice-chancellor of Rajshahi University, expressed wholehearted solidarity with the initiative and urged the organisers to ensure that the tribunal is genuinely a people’s tribunal, because the involvement of the general masses was imperative to make it effective and its verdicts heard and regarded by everyone.

KAM Saduddin, a former professor of sociology of Dhaka University, said, ‘It is indeed the people’s demand that such a tribunal should be formed. The instances of secret and confidential agreements between the government and other parties in the name of the people are numerous. This tribunal will be one of the means to bring about some accountability in this regard.’

Faiz Ahmed, a noted journalist and writer, said although such an initiative could have been taken earlier, it is never too late. ‘We understand the harmfulness of the ill-motivated lending agencies. And the People’s Tribunal is only the outcome of that awareness.’

A number of noted citizens and intellectuals have expressed solidarity with the tribunal and agreed to be a part of it. They include Habibur Rahman, a former chief justice and also a former chief adviser of a caretaker government, Serajul Islam Chowdhury, a professor of English of Dhaka University, and Professor Muzaffar Ahmad, a former teacher of economics who is currently the chairman of Transparency International’s Bangladesh chapter. The tribunal also enjoys the support of a large number of progressive and left-leaning political organisations, business quarters, non-governmental organisations and intellectuals.

Declaration from the Public Hearing on the World Bank, The Hague, October 2007

Convened by the World Bank Campaign Europe, under the auspices of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, The Hague, 21 October, 2007

Upon request from the World Bank Campaign Europe, a Public Hearing was convened on October 15 in the Hague, The Netherlands under the auspices of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal to provide a forum to assess the performance of the World Bank in the last 15 years.

The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) in continuity with the Russell Tribunal supported by the Lelio Basso Foundation, has the stated goal of giving public profile and a juridical qualification to violations of fundamental rights that do not find a proper redress at the institutional level. It bases its actions on the Universal Declaration of Peoples’ Rights of Algiers, 1976.

The PPT held specific sessions in Berlin in 1988 and Madrid in 1994 to assess World Bank and International Monetary Fund activities and roles against their impact on peoples’ rights. Other sessions have also taken place that are relevant to the specific area of work and analysis of the later Hearing, addressing the challenges posed by the globalized economy to peoples’ rights and self-determination.

The latest session held in Vienna in May 2006 within the Enlazando Alternativas 2 process, dealt with the responsibilities of European Transnational Companies (TNCs) in Latin America. It analysed cases of the privatisation of public utilities and the extraction of natural resources. It pointed out the “complicity of European governments that support their TNCs“ and the role of international institutions such as the World Bank, the WTO (the World Trade Organisation) and the International Monetary Fund. The last of a series of hearings held by the PPT Chapter in Colombia, focusing on the oil sector, acknowledged the relevance of the concept of ecological debt when dealing with the responsibilities of European TNCs.

At the end of September 2007, an Independent People’s Tribunal on the World Bank took place in India. Finally, a few days before the The Hague Hearing, another PPT session was held in Managua, Nicaragua, on the Spanish Company Union Fenosa.

The later hearing in The Hague was an important opportunity to continue developing new approaches to the current area of activity, by deepening the analysis of the World Bank’s role in various countries of the Global South.

It took place on the first day of a Global Week of Action on Debt and the World Bank, launched by a broad platform of NGOs and social movements across the globe calling for a substantial change in World Bank policies and practices, an end to public financing of fossil fuel projects, an end to the imposition of strict conditionalities that instead of leading to poverty alleviation lead to further impoverishment, and a commitment by governments to launch public audits on foreign debt. It developed along two areas of work, namely the human, social and environmental consequences of the World Bank’s role in imposing economic and policy conditionalities, and the role of the Bank in support of fossil fuel extraction and use.

The expert panel was chaired by Francesco Martone, an Italian Senator in representation of the Permanent Peoples´ Tribunal and was further composed by Charles Abugre, development economist and head of policy and advocacy for Christian Aid from Ghana, Maartje Van Putten from the Netherlands, former member of the World Bank’s Inspection Panel, Marcos Arruda a development economist and publisher from Brazil, member of PACS and the Transnational Institute and Medha Patkar, from India, Founder of the Save Narmada (River Valley) Movement and National Convenor of National Alliance of People’s Movements.

The expert panel heard testimonies by:

Gonzalo Salgado, of the National Consumer Defence Network (Nicaragua) on the liberalisation of electricity services;

Collins Magalasi, of Action Aid Malawi, on the issue of food security;

Temo Tamboura, of CAD Mali, on the liberalization of the cotton sector;

Miguel Palacin of the Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones Indigenas (CAOI), from Peru on reform of the mining laws in Peru;

Svetlana Anasova, of the Berezovka Initiative Group, Kazakhstan on “The Karachanak Oil Pipeline” (as she was unable to attend the Hearing in person, her submission was read aloud);

And Michael Karikpo, of Environmental Rights Action, Friends of the Earth Nigeria on the West African Gas Pipeline;

Findings and Outcomes of Testimonies:

The World Bank came into existence after the World War II in order to rebuild Europe and with the purpose of creating new markets, mobilizing resources while supporting infrastructure and productive capacity. Notably after the creation of the International Development Association (IDA) it has repositioned itself in support of poverty alleviation, its avowed goal, while advancing a global free trade agenda through its lending and conditionalities. A parallel and unofficial history of the World Bank tells us years of resistance at the local and global level by social movements and communities eager to reclaim their right to self-determination and control over their resources.

The testimonies presented to the Panel in The Hague indicate that the World Bank has been rather influential while dealing with the State and the public sector in borrowing countries. Its interventions have gone much beyond its formal limited role of a lending agency and went into policy-making, prioritizing, budgeting and planning in every sector of governmental action. This has enabled the Bank to generate and force a development paradigm that is market- and growth-oriented rather than aimed at meeting basic human needs while attaining social and environmental justice. Its lending conditionalities lead to the conversion of life-supporting natural resources such as land, food, air, seeds and energy into merchandise.

In the case of *Nicaragua* the panelists listened to an extensive explanation of the developments in the energy sector what in brief showed a failure of the privatization process of public utilities in guaranteeing full and broad access to electricity for the poor majority of the country, while generating huge profits for the Spanish monopoly Union Fenosa while at the same time creating indebtedness for the State.

In the case of *Mali *the Panel was told that Mali was forced to privatise the cotton sector in order to meet World Banks conditions with the purpose to receive a debt reduction of 70 million and eligibility for the Enhanced Indebted Poor Countries Initiative. As a result, according to the witnesses, the cotton prices were liberalised what subsequently led to a decrease by 20% while cotton is the principle source of the country’s revenue. It is significant for the panellists that the timing of World Bank programs in Mali coincided with the cotton liberalisation negotiations at the WTO.

The Panel noted the remarks made by the witnesses as to how the World Bank is imposing conditions on countries negotiating a loan, leaving little or no room for these countries to choose their own direction. In at least two cases, the Panel noted that access to the HIPC debt reduction processes was conditioned to the implementation of structural adjustments and liberalization of economies, thereby producing a vicious circle of forced payment of increasing volumes of debt. An uneven distribution of resources and benefits resulted in a massive drain of national resources away from the imperatives that could ensure distributional and social equity and self-reliance. In this process, the traditional, customary, cultural and territorial rights of local communities and indigenous peoples are compromised and sacrificed. International conventions and UN covenants such as ILO 169 on the rights of indigenous populations have been either ignored or violated.

The panel acknowledges the relevance of the concepts of ecological and social debt when dealing with the consequences of such development paradigm. Additionally, evidence of odious and illegitimate debt - such as in the cases of Peru and Nigeria – has been presented, whereby foreign debt accumulated during dictatorial regimes is still being paid off by the victims of the past. Still, the legal frameworks that can be applied to the concepts of illegitimate, odious and ecological debt might require further articulation and development.

In many cases, the Panel noted the points made about violations of peoples’ right to be proactively engaged at all levels of the decision-making process as is laid down in several of the World Banks own policies. Besides the Panel notes this is not in free agreement with the principle of ‘prior informed consent’ in any policy or decision affecting their own lives, and territories.

Hence, through its policy advice, the Bank has prevented the full exercise of participatory and direct democracy, thereby widening the gap between governments and peoples, creating a fictional political space where genuine interests are overlooked if not ignored. In this context, the role of the national parliaments has frequently been undermined if not denied by imposing on them decisions already made by governmental authorities and Washington-based officials.

The Panel learnt however interestingly, that in certain cases, such as in *Malawi* countries might be able to find their own route to social justice, food sovereignty and food security, by rejecting World Bank conditionalities and continuing to subsidize local agriculture and markets, while fostering the inclusion of the poor. The Panel was told that the parliament of Malawi was forced to accept the closure of 400 local rural markets that according to the witnesses led to a dramatic loss of jobs of thousands including rural farmers that did no longer have access to markets to sell their products. This decision in a later stage was turned over and the markets were re-opened. As a consequence of this decision the food situation in rural areas improved substantially.

The cases on mining in *Peru* and oil and gas extraction in *Nigeria and Kazakhstan* show the link between World Bank developmental priorities and the advan, and fossil fuel extraction has, according to the witnesses, resulted in the violation of peoples’ rights to health, a clean environment, and water. No compensation of losses or replacement of livelihoods was ever ensured either by the Bank or the government despite evidence produced by the Bank itself.

More generally, the continued support of the World Bank to fossil fuel extraction and use, with the associated greenhouse gas emissions, rather than small scale renewable energy, raises serious questions about the Bank’s role in and commitment to the Post-Kyoto process and support for eco-friendly technologies. It is another case of “institutional amnesia” considering that the Extractive Industries Review, 2004, supported by the Bank itself, recommended a phase-out of Bank financing of fossil fuel projects, the adoption of the principle of free, prior informed consent and compensation for affected communities.

Recommendations and Next Steps:

Drawing from the testimonies and its own experience and analyses, the Panel believes that:

a. There is a need and urgency to build upon local resistances and alternatives to the dominant economic free-trade and growth oriented paradigm, in order to strengthen alliances and movements, while confronting World Bank culture and ideology, challenging its political and economic role;

b. Commons are for the common good and not for corporate profit. Therefore, the Bank should abstain from supporting - or recommending - the privatisation of the commons and of life-supporting resources such as public energy services and drinking water systems;

c. Social-environmental and economic audits and/or impact assessments of the World Bank should be carried out in a transparent and timely fashion and the same should include the people that could be directly or indirectly affected by the projects funded by the World Bank. Moreover, a moratorium of projects causing conflict should be considered in order to allow for a meaningful assessment and compensation measures to be developed and implemented;

d. The recommendations of the 2004 Extractive Industries Review, the outcome of a multi-stakeholder exercise in global policymaking, on the request of the World Bank itself, are still valid and cogent and should be implemented in letter and spirit as a matter of urgency;

f. Parliaments and governments should initiate independent debt audits in order to identify historical responsibilities, and the social, economic and environmental, as well as juridical implications of debt for peoples’ rights and self-determination. Parliaments and governments should take the opportunity of the ongoing negotiations for the replenishment of IDA (International Development Association) to condition any new replenishment to a significant and urgent change in World Bank’s practices and conditionalities currently aimed at fostering a pro-growth, pro-free trade agenda rather than social, economic and environmental justice;

g. No violations of UN conventions and covenants in any development project can be accepted, with or without bilateral and multilateral funding;

h. Any investment or operation by the World Bank must respect the community rights by practising the principle of ‘free prior informed consent”.

Panel Members:

Francesco Martone, Chair
Charles Abugre
Marcus Arruda
Medha Patkar
Maartje Van Putten

News and Update: Seminar dubs WB, IMF agents of corporate interests of developed countries

NewAge, October 20, 2007. Dhaka, Bangladesh

The programmes and projects of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are designed to benefit the corporate houses of the developed countries, speakers at a discussion in the city said on Friday.

The participants of the discussion on the anti-people policies of the two Bretton Woods institutions, organised by Voice, a non-governmental organisation, suggested more rigorous monitoring of activities of these lending agencies and hinted at the possibility of holding a people’s tribunal.

Piash Karim, a professor of economics at BRAC University, referred to a damning report of the Meltzer Commission on the World Bank which said that 70 per cent of the World Bank’s lending was made only in seven countries and that 80 per cent of its resources were spent on such countries that were able to repay their debts. ‘Even in the case of lending there is an obvious bias in this agency.’

He said it was not merely a matter of coincidence that individuals who previously in their careers had acted to further US policies worldwide, for instance Robert Macnamara and Paul Wolfowitz, were later chosen to head the bank. It is evident that the lending agency is used as a tool by the United States to serve its interests.

Piash suggested formation of a tribunal on the activities of these agencies and demanded accountability of their programmes.

Melissa Hussain, a professor of English at the North South University, dwelt upon how these agencies exert and retain their influence across the world through their money, knowledge, and power. She said these agencies furthered their neo-liberal propaganda by establishing themselves as knowledge bases on the one hand and exercising their power and monetary resources on the other and forced their clients to undertake policies that the agencies preferred.

She said an analysis would reveal how these agencies manipulated their data sets to establish their preferred economic policies as the best options. These only lead towards further privatisation and liberalisation without any regard for actual development or the rising inequity among the general people.

Anu Muhammad, a professor of economics at Jahangirnagar University, said their were indications in the latest annual publication of the World Bank, the World Development Report of 2008 focusing on agriculture, that the bank intended to completely commercialise this sector.

This, he suggested, would follow from the green revolution of the 60’s which eventually led to an increase in the use of chemical inputs and gradually destroyed the soil fertility and environment, all in the name of higher yield of food grains.

He said the World Bank’s crusade against corruption and advocacy for good governance were merely eyewashes as it did not believe in them but just chose to implement such programmes in places where they suited its interests.

‘Many a corrupt regime have been provided with generous assistance from these agencies, while many a regime genuinely committed towards eradicating corruption have been criticised by them.’

‘These agencies, through their exercise, ensure that the cost of living increases and that poor countries gradually become wholly dependent on their assistance and act as captive markets for corporations based in the developed countries,’ he said.

Anu also suggested forming a people’s tribunal, where people would give their testimonies regarding how they had been affected by the policy prescriptions of the lending agencies.

Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of Voice, presented the keynote paper and moderated the session.

Activists observe global action against debt and IFIs

NewAge, October 18, 2007. Dhaka, Bangladesh

Across the world, the slogans of the activists in the debt movement are: ‘debt trap is death trap’; ‘we don’t owe, we won’t pay; ‘cancel all debts of the people of the South immediately and unconditionally’; and the North must pay back all historical and ecological debts to the people of the South’, writes Mohiuddin Ahmad*

This week, from October 14 to 21, is being observed by millions of activists across the world as Global Action against Debt and IFIs (international financial institutions, such as, the World Bank and the IMF). One major thrust of the week of global action is the demand for immediate and unconditional cancellation of all ‘illegitimate debts’ across the globe that had been and is still channeled through corrupt and oppressive regimes for no or little benefit accruing to common people. At least 297 organisations from 60 countries are participating and are expected to raise issues around illegitimate debt cases in the week-long programme of actions.

Among the most important events that mark this week are:

October 15: the 20th death anniversary of Thomas Sankara, former president of Burkina Faso, who called for repudiation of debt
October 16: World Food Day
October 17: International Day to Eradicate Poverty; Stand Up and Speak Out Mobilisations
October 20: World Youth Day
October 19-21: IMF-WB annual meetings

Some of the loan agreements signed in Bangladesh during the 1980s may be bracketed as odious and illegitimate. KAFCO is one such example. We have also observed many ‘development deals’ signed by our ‘democratic’ regimes in the 1990s and the 2000s, particularly in defence, transport, telecommunications and energy sectors, where large-scale payment of kickbacks is smelled. Some of the cases are now pending in the court. The billion-taka question is why the poor people would be forced to pay back for the crimes committed by the international lenders and the national thugs.

Among the examples of illegitimate debt cases is the infamous Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation-National Broadband Network (ZTE-NBN) deal between the governments of the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China. The USD$ 329 million ZTE-NBN contract would have led to a new case of illegitimate debt. Philippines debt campaigners, legislators and the protesting public successfully forced the Arroyo administration to cancel the contract. Numerous issues were raised against the contract, amongst which are questionable process and lack of transparency; overpriced and grossly disadvantageous; clear violation of Philippines laws; lack of proper bidding and kickbacks received by government officials in the deal.

The case of the Netherlands-Bangladesh computer deal may be mentioned in this respect. This is another example of unscrupulous deal between the ‘donor’ and the irresponsible managers of our state. Recently a Dutch court gave its verdict in favour of the Dutch company that was supposed to supply computers and accessories under the guise of a grant-cum-loan and now the people of Bangladesh have to pay ‘compensation’. It is time to demand that this ‘compensation’ be arranged by confiscating the assets of the persons in the government and the bureaucracy who signed the deal.

Debt campaigners around the world are united in calling for the immediate cancellation of huge illegitimate debts –– the ‘dictatorship debts’ of Liberia amounting to US$1.47 billion multilateral debt and US$ 833.9 million bilateral debt. These debts were incurred by the dictatorial regimes during the West African nation’s years of civil strife. These debts should be unconditionally cancelled, and given the gravity of Liberia’s social and economic situation it should be cancelled immediately and without delay.

The clamour for governments and international financial institutions to recognise the issue of illegitimate debts is starting to generate responses. In 2006, the government of Norway cancelled the debts (amounting to US$ 80 million) claimed from five developing countries, Ecuador, Egypt, Jamaica, Peru and Sierra Leone. The Norwegian government extended loans to 21 countries from 1976 to 1980, including the 5 countries, so that these countries will buy Norwegian vessels and shipping equipments. This was at a time when the Norwegian shipping industry was in a crisis. It turned out that the ships could not be used at least by the five of the 21 countries. The Norwegian government acknowledged that this was a bad policy and accepted part of the responsibility of the debts incurred. Thus, the Norwegian government cancelled the remaining repayments of these debts.

Recently the World Bank (WB) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released draft versions of a paper on Odious Debt in response to the demand to study the issue of illegitimate debt. However, upon the initial review of the debt campaigners, these have been criticised as being lopsided.

The Platform of the Global Week of Action has issued the following statement on the eve of the week:

We demand from North and South governments and international financial institutions the following:

1. Open, transparent and participatory parliamentary and/or governmental debt audits in both South and North countries; full cooperation with citizens’ groups for independent citizens debt audits, including the global citizens audit of the lending operations and related policies of the World Bank and IMF, regional development banks and export credit agencies.
2. Immediate and 100% cancellation of multilateral debts and all illegitimate debts as part of the total cancellation of debt claimed from the South, without externally imposed conditionality; repudiation of unsustainable, unjust and illegitimate debt.
3. Full transparency and accountability to citizens in the implementation of debt cancellation and debt repudiation; democratic decision-making and implementation to ensure that funds freed from debt cancellation and debt repudiation are used for genuine, equitable and sustainable development.
4. Immediate end to the financing and enforcement of neoliberal policies and projects through debt related conditionality:
• Stop the privatisation of public services and the use of public resources to support private profits;
• Stop using debt and aid as leverage for unfair trade agreements;
• Stop the promotion of environmentally destructive projects such as big dams and harmful mining of oil, gas coal and other dirty energy;
• Stop the escalation of climate change.

On October 15 the World Bank Campaign Europe organised a public hearing on the World Bank in co-operation with the Permanent People’s Tribunal in The Hague and organised a programme, the World versus Bank, one week before the annual meetings of the World Bank.

During this week, labour movements, trade unions, and migrant workers’ groups in Asia/Pacific will hold simultaneous action programmes. For example, In Bangladesh, the Economic Justice Working Group (EJWG) will hold a programme on Food Sovereignty & IFIs on October 23.

In Seoul, the students of the MA course on Inter-Asia NGO Studies (MAINS) at Sungkonghoe University will organise a People’s Tribunal on the Ecological Debt of TVI, a Canadian Mining Company, against the Subanen community in Zamboanga Del Norte in the Philippines. The Subanen is an indigenous community in the Zamboanga Peninsula in Mindanao affected by the mining activities of the said Canadian firm and the government is an accomplice to the ‘crime’. Besides, the Joint Action against Water Privatisation will hold a press conference in front of the City Hall of Seoul to condemn the city government’s recent declaration to corporatise its water and lay off 230 workers.

In Manila, a workers-led rally dubbed as ‘Workers March against IFIs’ Privatisation Programme and Violations on Workers Rights’ will be held in front of the ADB (Asian Development Bank) main office. Jubilee South – Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (JS-APMDD) and other groups will also be spearheading series of activities focusing mainly on the effects of privatisation on the public sector workers and consumers in general and the ‘must’ role of the government to provide these services. On Oct 21, the Asian Migrant Centre, along with its network of migrant organisations in Asia, will celebrate the ‘Indonesian Migrant Workers Union 8th anniversary’, a cultural event, which will also be a campaign activity against underpayment and excessive agency fees.

Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the Week of Action will highlight on debt campaigners lending their support to the Continental Mobilisation of the Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala, in support of their demands for respect and the defence of their cultures, territories, natural resources and for the recognition and payment of the historical debt which the nation-states, the Catholic church, and power centres in the North have been accumulating with them for last 515 years. In Nicaragua, campaigners will have a Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Union Fenosa jointly organised by Hemispheric Social Alliance-Central America Chapter, the Biregional Latin America – European Union Network, and the Nicaraguan Committee of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (TPP).

Across the world, the slogans of the activists in the debt movement are: ‘debt trap is death trap’; ‘we don’t owe, we won’t pay; ‘cancel all debts of the people of the South immediately and unconditionally’; and the North must pay back all historical and ecological debts to the people of the South’.

*Mohiuddin Ahmad is a writer and a researcher. He is the chairperson of the CDL (Bangladesh) and chairperson of the Jubilee South-Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development. Presently he is teaching at Sungkonghoe University, Seoul. He can be reached at mohi2005@gmail.com

How Bank and Fund Stand against People : Breaking the Cycle of Neo-liberal Hegemony

On the eve of WB-IMF (World Bank- International Monetary Fund) Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held from 20-23 November 2007 in Washington D.C, VOICE organizes a civil society dialogue on How Bank and Fund Stand against People : Breaking the Cycle of Neo-liberal Hegemony.

The event will take place at the National Press Club, Dhaka on 19 October from 10.30 a.m to 12.30 p.m.

Among others Prof. Anu Mohammad, Dr. Piash Karim, Dr. Mellisa Hossain, Dr. Azfar Hussain will speak as panel discussants while Ahmed Swapan Mahmud will present the key note paper.

Admission is free, but you will need to register/confirm by sending mail to: voicebd@rediffmail.com or ahmed.swapan@gmail.com

Contact: VOICE, House 67, Level-5, Block-Ka, Pisciculture Housing Society, Shyamoli, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh , Tel : 0088-02-8158688
E-mail: voicebd@rediffmail.com Website: www.voicebd.org